Hello readers and sorry for not only having a chapter be small but end up missing a chapter…well its not really missing but I skipped one. I did this seeing as I felt like I was burning myself out on this story a bit seeing as it was becoming more of a task rather than something I want to do. Anyways right now I have a plan that I can hopefully follow for my time to actually be able to write chapters at a relaxed pace while still getting other stuff I needed to do done. Well until I get a second job which I plan on looking for come spring time or so. Basically meaning April or so and then I will have to reconfigure it. Course just to let you all know I think this story is dragging on a decent bit now which I am sure that several people agree with. And I do think I am going to finally push this story to where I want to end it instead of trying to follow the entire Naruto timeline. Course that will still take several chapters. I hope that when I get to it that all of you who actually enjoy this stories end. And to make matters worse I wrote a good 1-1.5 thousand words of this chapter and my computer just decided to delete it. So anyways time for me to start this chapter…again.

Chapter 65

~mountain in Suna territory far away from any civilization; cave~

Orochiamaru and Kabuto were currently sitting on rather large rocks completely unconcerned with the several bodies and body parts that were occasionally landing around them.

"It seems that we have succeeded in keeping S rank strength with our newest modifications." Kabuto says with a smirk. He then watches as Deidara fight several of their zombies and end up exploding a clay mine a bit too close to himself causing some shards of rock to cut him.

"Kukuku, it seems that we still need to tweak their programing a bit…though Deidara always has been a bit too wild with his jutsu." Orochimaru add clearly not too upset with this fact.

"Still we are far ahead of schedule" Kabuto says then notices that most of their lower level 'zombies' were now little more than pieces of meat strewn throughout the cave.

"Well then. It seems our newest member has finished his test. Let us return to base and get started." Orochimaru tells Kabuto before quickly going through a few hand seals before slamming his hands onto the ground summoning a few snakes that quickly began eating the chunks of meat in the cave. Thus, removing most evidence that there was anyone was in the cave. Kabuto says nothing about this and simply follows after his master after the man walked past him.

They then walked for several hours at a normal pace until they finally reached a large three that's bottom was covered in a large amount of moss. Seeing this Kabuto quickly walked up the tree and pushed his chakra into it in several different areas while Orochimaru stood still. Finally, after doing this six times there was a faint blue glow under the moss and a second later a chunk of the moss popped up showing there was a door there the whole time. A door Kabuto quickly opens up letting Orochimaru pass without having to touch anything before finally walking through himself allowing the door to shut automatically behind him.

As soon as the door shut dozens of torches automatically lit up giving a small amount of light in the dark stone pathway. Still the creepy hallway didn't bother either of them in the slightest as they continued down various hallways until they finally reached a large room where several people in white coats were present focusing on the various materials on tables strewn throughout the room.

"Reachers can I have your attention!" Kabuto calls out making all of the men and women turn to him. With that being done Kabuto turns to Orochimaru and bows.

"Thank you Kabuto-kun. Now Scientist as much as I hate to interrupt your studies, I have a task for all of you that must be done with utmost haste. Operation black blood is in need of immediate update in order to create the strongest army possible. Do this and I promise that all of you will be allowed to continue your studies without fear of retribution." Orochimaru tells them with a large smile. He then turns to Kabuto. "I am going to my do my own personal lab. I trust that you will make sure that they will keep on track…and feel free to use Deidara in the studies…he never was the most useful of Akatsuki members." Orochimaru tell the younger man with a chuckle before walking off.

Kabuto then moves to an empty table and unrolled a large scroll and released several scrolls from it. "Here are several copies of our study. Now get to work." Kabuto orders the group before going to an empty area to begin working himself.

AN: For Orochimaru's base in this story he has collected dozens of 'mad scientists' to help him with his random tests. These scientists are all labeled mad due to doing research on topics or in was that are frowned at by most people. Orochimaru gives them an area they can do whatever studies they wish as long as they listen to him and also help him out with his own studies as well. He keeps their trust by making them believe that he is fighting to create an area where they all could do their own studies without having any fear of people interrupting them or hunting them for it. Meanwhile just like the rest of his subjects they all are of minimal value for the snake who would happily use them for anything he needs if the situation arises.

All of the researchers then spent countless hours working on the black blood project but sadly weren't making too much progress. Thankfully Kabuto himself was able to use several of the team's failures to make a small amount of progress.

~meanwhile; underground training ground~

While Kabuto was working hard on working out the final quirks of their project Orochimaru himself was carefully working on another part of his plan which he was currently preparing what hopefully would be the final test. A test which currently had him painting an intricate seal slowly in a massive circle. Course this itself was incredibly time consuming due to the seal needing various sections of itself shrunk down in order for it to actually fit in the area he had it. So, the parts he already completed looked to be more like several dozen black dots that formed a single line of symbols rather than being a massive seal matrix.

Luckily enough for him though he was a patient man and spent most of his day working on the seal and only took brakes when he felt the need to do various chores having a human body gave you…and some that having a possessed body gave him.

+Several days later+

After finally finishing the seal Orochimaru quickly pumps his chakra into the seal making the entire room glow blue for about thirty seconds before the light finally died down and the seal became invisible.

"Hmm it seems that this seal works properly for at least the visible portion. Now I need to test the second section of the seal but I will need to summon some minions for that later….for now my concern is that this seal took about an S class jutsu worth of chakra from me and gave off a chakra signal that could easily be noticed. Not to mention that this seal took me too long to write to be truly useable in the way I want. So, it seems that no matter what my seal will still need to be adjusted a bit more." Orochimaru thought already trying to figure out different ideas in how to do just that. Meanwhile he walked to the thrown he had in the room and sat down in the chair. He then turns his arm over showing a small seal that he pushed chakra into making the seal heat up. After a few seconds he stops pushing chakra through the seal and simply relaxes on his chair. A few minutes later Kabuto enters the room bowing slightly to his master.

"You called for me Lord Orochimaru?" Kabuto asks him finally feeling the warm sensation coming from his seal go away now that he was close enough to the master seal.

"Yes, my seal is finally ready for testing. Will you please call Sasuke-kun here and have a squad of Daku (look at bottom) ready to face him." Orochimaru ordered Kabuto.

"Of course, Lord Orochimaru but if he has not traveled since we last saw him it will take around three days travel for him to reach this base." Kabuto told him before walking off.

"Kukuku soon enough my plan is finally nearing its final stages. Soon the world will be in my grasp." Orochimaru muttered with a large smile on his face. After all he waited years to get to where he is at now and soon enough all of his work would be well worth all his hard work. He eventually decided to go back to his work seeing as the seal still needs fine tuning even if it does end up working properly.

+Four days later+

Several days past and while they were waiting for Sasuke to make it both Orochimaru and Kabuto made a good amount of progress in their own studies. For Kabuto he and the team of researchers were able to make it so that Deidara was able to fight a lot more like he originally did when he actually was himself. Though they did hit a snag at the fact that no matter what they did they were unable to heal him at all and even their best healers jutsus did nothing to help at all. Due to this he was in pretty rough shape but like Orochimaru said; Diedara was far from the most important/strongest S class missing ninja so they weren't losing nearly as much value as the information they have gained.

Meanwhile Orochimaru worked his seal down and was able to not only break it into sections but also now had it contained in eight scrolls that in theory could be used to place the seal up anywhere without needing as much time as it took him to place the seal down himself. Now he currently sat on his throne with a smile that refused to leave his face thinking of his plan with Kabuto standing calmly at his side. They then heard the door open and saw Sasuke calmly walk into the room and lazily looked at the two of them.

"Why did you call for me?" Sasuke asked both of them while clearly not too concerned.

"Well Sasuke-kun I have worked on the curse seal and should be able to let it give you more power than ever before. So, if you would come here." Orochimaru tells Sasuke and watches as the boy calmly walked up to him and pulled down his shirt enough to show the seal. Orochimaru then pushed chakra into said seal and pretended to change the seal for a minute or two before moving away from him.

"Now then. Let's see how you handle this." Orchimaru said then snapped his finger and two dozen daku come from around the room.

Seeing this Sasuke wasted no time in drawing his sword while ignoring the blue circle that appeared around them. What did surprise him though is that when he tried to activate his sharingan he found himself unable to for some reason. His eye widened for a moment but he quickly refocused on the task and quickly cut down the rest of his enemies before looking at Orochimaru with a glare.

"I don't know what you did but it managed to mess with my seal. I order you to fix my curse seal immediately!" Sasuke demanded.

"Kukuku. Not to work Sasuke-kun give me a few hours and I will have a fix set up." Orochimaru told him then watches as Sasuke walks out of the room before his smile widens. "Part one successful."

"Congratulations Lord Orochimaru. Shall I have have the seal team come in with a set of the scrolls?" Kabuto asks getting a nod in return. "Then they will be ready to act within the hour." Kabuto says giving the man a bow before walking out of the room.

+two hours later+

After two hours past by Sasuke walked into the room again and stood in front of Orochimaru glaring at the man.

"You better have the fix." Sasuke told him with his ever present glare.

"Yes, yes Sasuke-kun I have an idea that should work, but even if it doesn't don't worry. I will make sure that you get your eyes back. After all you are one of my key subordinates." Orochimaru told him waving off the glare even as he felt Sasuke's KI rise.

"I am NOT your subordinate. I am just using you to get stronger." Sasuke told him firmly before walking up to him yet again and letting Orochimaru work on his seal. And yet again after pretending to mess with the seal he had Daku attack him while each of the eight men around the room pumped chakra into their seals which soon connected into a blue circle that quickly faded away. Though much to Kabuto's surprise the seal team all fell to the ground appearing to have died. Course Orochimaru didn't truly care seeing as he watched with a smile as Sasuke was yet again unable to use his eyes properly.

"…this is your last chance snake! Correct the damage the by the end of the day or I will hunt you down!" Sasuke ordered him before storming out of the room. Still Kabuto paid no mind to this and just walked over to the men that fell down and placed two fingers on one of their necks.

"Hmm…I guess I will have to make sure the team we send to do the seals during our plan aren't too important." Kabuto mutters before opening the seal scroll and found it to now be blank.

"Kukuku a loss that is more than worth taking than using our own chakra Kabuto-kun. Now go ready the squads for our hunt. We head out tomorrow morning!" Orochimaru orders Kabuto who quickly leaves to do just that. "Now let's go 'fix' Sasuke-kun's seal and send him on a mission to stay away form the base. After all we wouldn't want him to see what is going to happen to his poor older brother now do we?" Orochimaru says to himself before laughing as he to left the room without paying any mind to the bodies strewn around the room.

~Sasuke's room~

It took Orochimaru only a couple of minutes to find the angry Uchiha and quickly knocked on his door.

"Enter!" Sasuke ordered and Orochimaru did just that smiling at the teen who was sitting on his bed cleaning his blade. Said ninja only looked at him for a second before going back to cleaning. "Do you have a fix ready yet?" he asked releasing a fair amount of KI to dare him to say otherwise.

"Now, now Sasuke-kun you are far too serious." Orchimaru told him while walking up to Sasuke who said nothing. "Though I do have a fix for your seal…though this fix will be more painful than my last changes. So, I am going to put you into a genjustu induced sleep while I work." Orochimaru told him before going through several hand seals.

"Fool you should be well aware that genjustu doesn't work on any Uch…iha clan…member" Sasuke says before finally falling asleep.

"No Sasuke-kun you are the fool. Without your sharingan active you actually need to work to prevent genjutsu…you are far to dependent on your clans strength…but for now I will use this to my advantage." Orochimaru told the sleeping ninja before pulling out a test tube and reaching towards him….

Several minutes later Orochimaru releases the genjutsu and calmly walks out of the room with his smile being even bigger on his face if that was even possible.

"Thank you Sasuke-kun for helping me ensure that I will be the strongest being around for many years to come." He tells the Uchiha before shutting the door and walking away.

+Next Morning; in front of base+

"You have your mission Sasuke-kun. Make sure no one lives." Orchimaru tells the Uchiha calmly getting only a nod from Sasuke before he sped off in a random direction. "…and now that he is off to slaughter some random bandits…come out!" Orochimaru ordred and watched as the base's door opened completely up allowing hundreds of men to come out of the base. "My people, the day that I promised all of you is coming ever closer to us. Now come with me as we strike the first major step to creating a new world…OUR new world." Orochimaru told the large group around him and heard loud cheers come from all of them. Orchimaru then began to walk away from the base with the large mass of ninja, 'zombies', sealers, and a few odd researchers all began to follow behind him. While Orchimaru walked he looked down at the ring he still had on his left hand.

"Kukuku soon enough you fools that dared to go against me will be key parts in helping me complete my goals…you better prepare yourself Akatsuki!" Orochimaru thought accidentally releasing a large amount of his own key as he kept an insane smile on his face.

So I have decided to finally add in a section to name and describe the 'zombie' creatures seeing as it kind of annoys me just to say they are zombies when I don't want the regular image of zombie in readers heads. If I have already done this a bit please PM me the chapter and I apologize if so. I have a faint recollection of going through them a little bit but also have recently read a story that created dark creators and read through that list…basically I just want to make sure it is here just in case I imagined that I did it.

+Otmake+

~Tsunade's office~

"Hokage-sama we have finally gone through the information collected from Orochimaur's base and some of the information is truly troubling…for we have found out what is likely causing many of the missing persons cases several villages are reporting." A random researcher told Tsunade placing a few scrolls on her desk. "Now we have put what we think is the most important information on the first scroll I gave you. The rest of them contain more information from the base but we find it to not be nearly as vital for the land of fire's safety….still please read through all of it and give us your instructions as soon as you can Hokage-sama" the man told her seeing as he like everyone else knew Tsunade had a habit of glancing over stuff she found tedious. Hence why their team put the 'most important' information as her first read to at least make sure the land of fire's safety is properly managed. Not that they didn't trust her; they just didn't want her to….overlook anything that could be found crucial later.

"Hmm? Is that so…well let's just see what's got you so worked…" Tsunade mutters then opened the first scroll.

Project Black blood: the study of a mysterious substance that Lord Orochimaru has found but deems necessary to hide the origin of. Substance is found to be highly infective when in contact with human blood but shows little reaction when mixed with other fluids or on healthy skin. For ease of mas understanding this substance will can be called black blood or kuro in future research documents. With permission this substance has been injected into several test subjects from varying backgrounds and with various strength levels.

Sample set 1: villagers taken from basic towns and cities who on basic examination have no access to their chakra nor a large enough amount to properly use. These samples were found to quickly transform into what we have decided to name Daku. They are the most basic of our black blood creatures and are found to only have signs of the black blood integration on a few parts of their bodies. Studies have found that Daku aren't much stronger than average ciitziens and aren't capable of much more than basic motor function. Recommended to be used in cases where numbers are required and/or to be sent to fight while main force escape.

Sample set 2: Samples that were previously found to be guards of towns or even basic soldiers of larger settlements. When exposed to black blood subjects take only a few moments longer than Daku to have their bodies fully controlled. When transformation complete subjects are found to have at least one complete limb's venous system visible with black blood. These subjects have been named Maina Daku and nicknamed Maku. Tests have found little difference in these subjects when compared to Daku other than one Maku seems fully capable of defeating at least two Maku in battle. Maku capable of basic commands and are found to be able to use simple tools at a beginner level. Recommended to be used similarly to Daku but can be armed to last longer against enemies.

Sample set 3: This set is comprised of regular citizens who have proper access to their chakra systems and apparently use them to enhance themselves during day-to-day tasks. These subjects seem to be at a strength level of beginner samurai or gennin/student level ninja. Subjects were capable of resisting black blood's infection for a few seconds using what is assumed to be their chakra reserves but are unable to fully expel the substance from their system. When fully integrated with Kuro subjects visibly have at least one limb coated in a black color from Kuro integrating further with the muscular system. Current research has remained inconclusive why this event happens but is assumed to be due to chakra reacting to the black bloods chemical structure. These specimens have been given the name NakaDaku and nicknamed Naku. Upon controllers command Naku appear to be able to use small ammounts of chakra to increase their bodies strength and speed. Subjects are found to be much more capable than previous subjects and recommended to be kept unless Daku and Maku are found ineffective.

Sample set 4: This set is comprised of experience chakra users and those that could be considered around chunnin level in ninja villages. These subjects while harder to collect are to be preferred due to producing higher quality specimens. Samples from this set seem to be able to prevent Kuro's infection process for at least one minute and are to be considered dangerous until subject remains still for at least two minutes. After successful infection subjects are found to have black spots on their bodies and either both arms or legs with visible black venous structures. Successful subjects from this set were named Shuyona Daku and nicknamed Shuaku. These specimens appear to be able to use their techniques from their original powers but appear to be a bit weaker than originally found to be. Further research is recommended to try to strengthen Shuaku to at least their samples original combat ability. All Shuaku are to be retained when possible and not be used without proper planning.

Sample set 5: This set is comprised of more experienced subjects that are found to be on par or previously named at least jonnin in ability. Successful subjects from this set are found to be even better than Shuaku and always have chakra flowing to all muscle groups around body producing a constant strength better than even the strongest Shuaku in field tests. Subject when infected are found to be able to resist for several minutes but still remain mostly incapable of fully resisting Kuro's affect on the body. When in infection process subjects are recommended to use Daku or Maku to inject Kuro into test subject as most administers are unable to retreat from subject before being fatally wounded by said subjects thrashing. Success is then decided upon after subject remains still for at least two minutes and responds to commands. Successful subjects from this group were given the name Okidesu Daku and nicknamed Okaku. After infection visible examination of subject has found them to have their full venous system visible with black blood and large amounts of black patches over entire body. Subjects of this level are to be given to head researchers and are very valuable until proper production is set up. Okaku like Shuaku are found to constantly enhance their bodies with chakra but are capable of more advanced techniques and capable of using more chakra based attacks.

Sample set 6: Orochimaru's personal research subjects. Our master has informed us that he has named these subjects Ankoku Kyo and we have nicknamed them Anaku. From the specimen I have seen these subjects seem to be have their entire venous system visible as black blood like Okaku but have a lot more muscle and skin dyed black. The most notable feature of these subjects seem to be completely black eyes. Abilities of this group are currently unknown and are kept secure by only a few people Orochimaru-sama and Kabuto-sama have deemed worthy. Basic researchers are required to never ask about or try to study these subjects unless properly instructed. From personal prodding I have found these subjects to be capable of ignoring regular handlers orders but I am unsure of reasons.

(ANE: leaving this one here seeing as I can't validate S rank soldiers being worked on anyone but the top brass in the sound village. Not to mention there can't be nearly as many of these created. But description during message will be used over the AN description due to me liking it more) Ankoku Kyo/Anaku: Kage/S class. People Orchimaru was able to beat/get lucky in collecting. Each person found is recognizable simply because they are well known in bingo book. They are recognizable by not only having entire vein structure around body being black but also has pure black eyes minus normal iris color. Also can have large black spots on body. Are capable of using S class justu and fight at high level. Are very dangerous and only a handful of these are in Orochimaru's army.

Research set 1: Test group from Sound village volunteers and personal ordered to help. No subjects from outside sources are to be used in this set and all members are to be kept track of. If sample from this set tries to escape from the sound village or fail to follow orders they are to be immediately terminated and assets repossessed. These subjects are injected with an unknown compound that Orochimaru-sama's head research group are working on developing. Chemicals when administered to the body in a secret administration method are found to cause incredible amounts of pain that can last for an undisclosed amount of time. Subjects bodies adaption to the chemical is found to be at various rates depending on many unknown variables. When successful it is found that these people are able to control groups of Daku as they wish through only mental commands or can use verbal commands in some cases along with mental. Subjects from this set are to be protected by personnel so they can focus on remaining in command of their given groups of various Kuro creatures.

Please note that subjects from any and all groups are noted to be able to die from the administration of Kuro or of the control serum. This is considered a valid chance in order to further the goals of our glorious village. If any subject fails to integrate properly with the black blood most cases result in immediate death. Though those with strong body, mind, and/or willpower seem to manage to have a chance to survive. These subjects are to be immediately terminated to prevent any chance of antibodies being formed against project black blood if this is possible. No studies have been started at this time in how to negate or cure those infected and all researchers are forbidden from starting studies on such things unless otherwise told directly by Lord Orochimaru. Failure to follow this rule will result in becoming test subjects for our village's more invasive studies until death.

(AN: *note that Orochimaru also has the undead army that Kabuto is seen to use plus his basic village of ninja and experiments*)

After reading this Tsunade couldn't help but rub her temples with her elbows on her desk "Just what are you doing Orochimaru-teme?"

ANE: I am rather proud of taking this giant amount of information that was provided in a boring author note and change it into something like a research report. Now of course it isn't as perfect as I want (not to mention it is dumb that you can find all this information from a random base) but this story need some of this information and a normal intergration of this seems impossible without forcing it or boring you readers to death.

Also as I have said before I have a basic plan to end this story and while it still will take a decent while it won't be as far as way as it could….though I do plan to spend a decent amount of time with the 'fluff' stuff to do dates and such. Not that I imagine many will mind if I can make them decent enough. Either way thank all of you for sticking around and reading my stories. It is nice to see that there are so many people out there that are looking at your creation. Just know that I appreciate it. Also I really do hope I didn't accidentally make a list for the 'zombies' again but if I do I will simply delete one and apologize for any confusion (I will let people know which list will be the 'true' list if it happens…but I also think I may have just made a list before for myself which I never posted…) either way Ja Ne.